Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating read for history buffs
Review: The reviews for this book are all over the board. I think it is all due to what you want in a novel like this. Clancy's reputation for action and technical information is absorbing. But his research and clear knowledge of what seems like every little detail is incredible. In reading the book, I felt as if I, for the first time, really knew what the old KGB was like. The conversations between players such as Judge Moore, Greer, Ritter, Mary Pat and Ed taught me so much. Yes, this book is quite different from some of Clancy's books. Yet it seems thoughtful and well laid-out. I am a big Clancy fan and was extremely disappointed with "The Bear and the Dragon." It seems to me that Clancy has found his voice again. My only question is "what's next?" This has to be the last Jack Ryan book. There is nothing left for him to do. But if Clancy surprises me on that matter, he will truly prove to be a brilliant author. History buffs--get this book and enjoy.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting story concept, but mediocre by Clancy standards
Review: As always, I eagerly await the latest Jack Ryan adventures, so I bought "Red Rabbit" the day it came out. Good or bad, they have provided a fun reading diversion for a week or so. And they are certainly better than the various franchise novels - written by other authors but which Tom Clancy sticks his name on for sales purposes - that I fortunately gave up very early in the game.Mr. Clancy, I think, was taking an interesting gamble by making a prequel novel that wedges in between "Patriot Games" (I had forgotten it was also a prequel) and the classic "The Hunt For Red October". After all, his faithful readers have come to know just about everything there is to know about uber-hero Jack Ryan. Given Mr. Clancy's penchant for alluding to details from previous books, the global view of the Ryan saga - for the time being - has the "Red Rabbit" chapter notably absent from his later works. It will be interesting to see how Mr. Clancy will cover his tracks in future novels, but for the purpose of this review, this point is not all that important. "Red Rabbit" does present an interesting story concept that is new to Mr. Clancy's formula: taking an real-life event (in this case, the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul) and writing a fictional story that leads up to and ultimately involves this event. There has always been debate on whether Mr. Clancy is telling fictional stories of actual events, but if true, this is the first instance where the real event is so overt. This concept alone made for a heightened level of anticipation as I started this book. The standard Jack Ryan adventure is generally written in the same manner: several hundred pages of painstaking details that slowly weave the plot together - with a few high-tension incidents - followed by a quick-reading 100 to 200 page burst of action. This pattern is no different here. The only problem is, there's not much to really get excited about during the setup phase of the story. There are no real small bursts of activity or action in the first 300-400 pages that really grab the reader and encourage you on. I'm sure the purpose of the detail of setting up Zaitzev's escape from the Soviet Union was partly meant to demonstrate the tedious pattern one has to establish in order to make the getaway possible. If so, he accomplished the task. However, none of the related subplots provided any diversion; it seemed as though everyone around the intelligence community was on Valium. The actual defection sequence also seemed just too easy by Mr. Clancy's - or any other genre author's - standards. Also, part of Mr. Clancy's style is that while Jack Ryan is "the guy", the story is written almost like an ensemble piece. So, we get the familiar faces in Ed and Mary Pat Foley, Admiral Greer, Bob Ritter, and others. However, in "Red Rabbit", Jack Ryan seems to have the role of an extra with no speaking role. He is just more or less "there" with no real purpose - and almost too far in the background - through the bulk of the story. Even during the defection sequence he is just along for the ride (literally), and he doesn't get into any sort of entertaining or exciting action until the actual assassination attempt, which comes about 30 pages from the end of the book. The associated British characters were all too bland as well. It got to be that by the time I was two-thirds of the way through the book, I was waiting for John Clark to come in and save the day with some sort of bravado. Alas, he's not in this story. There were good elements to the book that are worth noting. The description of the assassination attempt was an excellent sequence, and the conclusion was a nice tie-up to that part of the story. I enjoyed the tie-in to a real-life event, as well as the reference - in the course of discovering what Zaitzev knew - to the real-life case of John Walker. Also, I commend Mr. Clancy for avoiding the extreme overuse of sexual references and innuendo that were such a distraction in his last book ("The Bear and the Dragon"). I am certainly no puritan, but I criticized him in my review of that book for that distraction. It had never been a part of his other Jack Ryan adventures - at least not to that heightened degree. So it was nice to see him return back to form. All in all, "Red Rabbit" is a good story dragged down by being told rather tepidly and blandly. So, I am rating it at three stars. While there is much to criticize, there are enough good elements - some of which are noted above - to hold it from falling below three stars. I find myself wondering if perhaps we as readers and reviewers are becoming too demanding and critical of Mr. Clancy's work. But, I do think we are being fair, and in the end, this was "par" by his standards. I wonder if perhaps he is finding himself at a crossroads of sorts as to where the Jack Ryan story goes from here. It would certainly explain the decision to create a prequel, but one hopes Mr. Clancy can chart a course and return to a crackling, top-notch effort the next time Jack Ryan's tale hits the bookshelves.
Rating: 
Summary: a slooow read!
Review: What a slow read for a Tom Clancy book! Has he become smitten with his own voice (or writings) instead of crafting a great plot? Maybe it's time to stop while he's still ahead!
Rating: 
Summary: Who really wrote this book?
Review: If Tom Clancy really wrote this then I suppose as acclaimed as he is, he just doesn't have to try very hard at this point in his career. If you are a fan, you are going to read it anyway and form your own opinion, but if you are not an avid Clancy reader, DO NOT LET THIS BE YOUR FIRST of his books that you read. You might not ever read another. I know the author has to assume that not everyone knows his hero, Jack ("...don't call me Sir John...") by now. It is possible that someone has not read any of his excellent previous works or seen them as a movie, but he should at least assume we read the previous chapter. So much is repeated. There is never a build up of suspense anywhere in the book. Everything just goes as planned. Also missing is the explanation of technologies that have defined many of his other books, unless you consider the explanation of the one-time pads used to encode messages. I will not belabor the rest of what I found "un-Clancy" lest I turn a person who hasn't read Clancy off completely, but if this is you, please take heed: As tempting as it is to begin your read of an author with the current best seller, don't start here.
Rating:
Summary: Tom... focus buddy, focus !
Review: I've been a huge fan since that great start with Hunt for the Red October, what a book ! Read them all. As soon as they hit the stores (or Amazon[.com]) I buy 'em and read 'em in about 5 days, sometimes in the same day. I have over looked some flaws (wordy, wordy, wordy) in the series because of the multiple underlying stories, fascinating technical details vand abrupt plot turns. However, in Red Rabbitt, there was no there there. Just the endless set ups and meaningless dialogue. Don't worry though Tom, I will not give up after just one mistake. But please hurry, I need my fix !
Rating:
Summary: I Win, I Win, No Red Rabbit
Review: Ok, this probably won't get printed but, hey, what the heck. I am still steaming over the Bore and the Drag On. I read about 2-3 books a month, and most are of this genre. I had bought EVERY one of Clancy's books and finally with the Bear and the Dragon, I could take no more. His pomposity, his arrogance, his politics in every sentance and the constantly repeating of the same comments about the Godlike hero, made me fight to finish the book. I just hoped and hoped it would be worth it but it was a terrible book. Clancy needs an good editor, make that a great editor but that still wouldn't help him as he puts out huge numbers of pages filled with boring and mostly ridiculous dialog. Ok, my point is that I swore I would NEVER buy one of his books again, and I didn't buy this one. EVERY review i have read here at Amazon, and in publications elsewhere, have convinced me that I done good this time. There are so many great intrigue and suspense writers who deserve to be read, but no Red Rabbit for me, and i hope for u.
Rating:
Summary: Rush Job? Apathy?
Review: Like many others I have read all of Tom's books and constantly look forward to his new ones. After reading Red Rabbit, I learned to wait until I see it at the used book store before making the purchase. I don't know whether Clancy had to rush his manuscript to his publisher or just didn't give a rat's a$$ about this novel...but he has done better...much better. Whatever happened to the days of "Debt of Honor" or "Without Remorse"? I enjoyed delving into a 1,000 page book of his because I knew it would entertain me from page 1 to page 1,000.
I'll still buy his books, but this kind of apathetic work of literature needs to cease.
Rating:
Summary: Boring -This Is For Insomniacs Only.
Review: One expects a lot more "oomph!" from a Tom Clancy book, like stolen submarines, Irish terrorists, planes crashing into The Capitol Building -- stuff like that. Clancy's plots usually keep me up until the wee hours, but this one put me to sleep. I enjoyed doing legal research during my professional career more than I did reading this book. The plot was dull, the characters were insipid, the suspense wasn't. Everyone has a bad day now and then, and I hope that Clancy gets back into form with the next one. There really isn't much more to say about this book except that if it is made into a movie, see something else.
Rating:
Summary: A good easy read
Review: I like Tom Clancy and look forward to all his books and this book was no different. I enjoyed it. I don't read his books for the "film potential" as the films are horrible. This book fits into the saga really well and ties up some loose ends. Its easy to read and fun to read how the characters, each book concentrates on different ones-yet they all play a role,grow and develop so the following books make more sense. The relationships between different characters is developed for example the wisdom that Jack gets from his doctor wife,Cathy. She helps him to see the side he wouldn't normally see and often their relationship forshadows the best course of action. I recommend this book. It, as always, makes you think a little bit about how things really in the real world.
Rating:
Summary: No meat, all potatoes
Review: Sometimes, an author just has to pay the rent and put food on the table. This is one of those books, but I would think that Mr. Clancy was past that. Anyhow... Red Rabbit breaks no new ground on the Jack Ryan character, or on any of the other character's in the Jack Ryan universe. The writing is often times repetitive (how many times do we need to be reminded that Mary Pat Foley is the "Cowboy, er..CowGirl" of the Ed and Mary Pat team? How many times do we need to be told that Russians love their children? How many times do we need to be told that Mrs. "Doc" Ryan is a good "eye cutter"?) Some points were REALLY hammered home. Sadly, the techno details that have inhabited Mr. Clancy's books in the past, the real juicy stuff that I love to dive into, just wasn't there. I can understand wanting to go back and flesh out the Jack Ryan character a bit....maybe Mr. Clancy is laying a groundwork for future Jack Ryan novels (although, Jack Ryan may have been taken about as far as can be realisticly portrayed, not alot of Ex-Presidents go back to work in the field for CIA). I hope this is the case and Mr. Clancy is not just shaking the money tree. In Mr. Clancy's defense...world events of the last year have brought many of Mr. Clancy's visions of terrorism and destruction to an eerily accurate reality. He may have simply wanted to revisit the good old days when we knew who the bad guys were, and they played by a known, but still dangerous set of rules. I give Red Rabbit 3 stars, but only because it's a Tom Clancy novel, and I hold out hope for more new, better quality Jack Ryan adventures.
| 
